Frame-type holding arrangement for suspended incandescent mantles in high-intensity lanterns



Jan. 16, 1968 D. NAUJOKS 3,363,437

FRAME-TYPE HOLDING ARRANGEMENT FOR SUSPENDED INCANDESCENT MANTLES IN HIGH-INTENSITY LANTERNS Filed March 25, 1966 9 7 Fig.2

INVENTOR DIE TER NAUJOKS A'T'TORNEY United States Patent 3,363,437 FRAME-TYPE HOLDING ARRANGEMENT FOR SUSPENDED INCANDESCENT MANTLES 1N HIGH-INTENSITY LANTERNS Dieter Naujoks, Essen-Katernberg, Germany, assignor to International Standard Electric Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Mar. 23, 1966, Ser. No. 536,851 Claims priority, application Germany, Mar. 26, 1965, G 43,179 1 Claim. (Cl. 67103) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The supporting structure for the incandescent mantle of a high-intensity fluid fuel lamp has a first member for securing one end of the mantle and a second member for retaining movement. The two members are arranged into a unitary structure.

The present invention relates to a frame-type holding arrangement for suspended Welsbach (Auer) burners or incandescent mantles which, at both their upper and their lower end are provided with one opening each, the centre point thereof lying on an imaginary line, preferably for such ones which are used in portable high-intensity lanterns comprising a mixing tube (burner pipe), a gas chamber and a mouthpiece.

So-called high-intensity lanterns are operated with liquid fuels, such as kerosene or petrol, with this liquid fuel being under the pressure of air compressed in the fuel tank. From the fuel tank the fuel is fed into a vaporizer, also known as carburetor, from which it, after having been preheated in the manner known per se, escapes from a jet nozzle in the form of fuel vapor. At a certain distance above the nozzle there is provided a mixing tube (burner pipe or carburetor choke) into which the fuel vapor enters while being mixed with air, the so-called primary air, on account of the injector effect. At the other end of the mixing tube there is provided a so-called gas chamber in which there is inserted a mouthpiece mostly consisting of a ceramic material, and which is provided with a number of exit holes. To this mouthpiece there is bound the incandescent mantle, and the gas-air mixture escaping through its exit holes, is burned after having been ignited in the incandescent mantel, and heats up the latter and causes it to produce a light in the manner known per se.

This is the basic principle on which all high-intensity lanterns work. For practically performing this Work principle two different types of systems have become known. In the one system the vaporizer, as coming from the fuel tank, it led from below through a lower Opening in the incandescent mantle, and is thus enclosed thereby, with the incandescent mantle itself being bound with its upper end to a mouthpiece. This system has the advantage that the incandescent mantle provides an equal intensity of light in all directions, but has the disadvantage of a lower light output, to which there is still added the disadvantage that shock-like effects coming from the outside, and acting upon the fuel tank, which are always likely to occur in the case of portable high-intensity lanterns, are transferred to the vaporizer projecting into the incandescent mantle and thus reduce the service lifetime of the incandescent mantle.

In the other system the vaporizer, as coming from the fuel tank, is not led through the incandescent mantle, but is arranged next to it, whereby a special superheater coil arranged at the upper end of the vaporizer, takes care for a good and complete evaporation of the liquid fuel. In this conventional type of system, there is used 3,353,437 Patented Jan. 16, 1968 an incandescent mantle which is only provided with one opening lying at its upper end. Into this opening there is inserted the mouthpiece, and the incandescent mantle is bound to the mouthpiece, preferably with the aid of a string of asbestos. This point is its only holding point, and besides that it is suspended freely in space. Highintensity lanterns working on this principle, of course, bear the advantage of having a very good light output, but also have the disadvantage that the freely suspended incandescent mantle, in cases where the high-intensity lantern (lighting fitting) is vibrated on account of any shocks or impacts, can be easily damaged and thus rendered unserviceable. All types of incandescent mantles are extremely sensitive to impacts because they, after the first burning, only consist of a very vulnerable scaffold or thorium-ashes.

The present invention is based on the problem, in the case of high-intensity lanterns operating on the last described principles, hence in which the vaporizer is arranged next to the incandescent mantle, of providing the arrangement by which the freely suspended incandescent mantle is fixed at its lower end, thus protecting it against the disadvantageous effects of impact or shocklike stresses. To this end the present invention employs such types of conventional incandescent mantles which are provided with an opening at their upper, as well as at their lower end.

By the present invention, this problem is solved in that there is used a frame-like holding arrangement consisting of a hold member or retaining clip which, above the incandescent mantle, is either detachably or firmly connected to the high-intensity (high candle) lantern, and that from this hold member and along the outside of the incandescent mantle, at least one rod is led downwards, which, at its end, or near its end, is provided with a projection projecting into the lower opening of the incandescent mantle, with the center line of the projection approximately coinciding with the center line of the incandescent mantle. In one type of embodiment the hold member may consist of a flat plate of preferably circular shape, and this plate may comprise a circular recess or aperture. When using a circular plate as the hold member then the recess or aperture is preferably arranged eccentrically. The downwardly extending rod has an approximately L-shaped design with the end of the longer limb of the L being connected to the hold member, and the end of the shorter limb of the L being connected to the projection. In the operating position of the frame-type holding arrangement, the hold part is arranged between the gas chamber and the mouthpiece of the high-intensity lantern, with the mouthpiece, with its threaded portion, being led through the recess or aperture provided in the hold member, and the one surface of the hold member meets against the lower edge of the gas chamber, While the opposite surface of the hold member is lying closely against the medium collar bearing of the mouthpiece. In the working position the incandescent mantle, with its upper opening, surrounds the mouthpiece in the manner known per se, and its lower opening surrounds the projection.

An example is shown in the copending drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows a type of embodiment of the subject matter of the present invention as well as some details of a high-intensity lantern, in a perspective representation; and

FIG. 2 shows the type of embodiment, according to FIG. 1, in its working position, and in a side view.

To the one end of a mixing tube 1 there is arranged a gas chamber 2 into which a mouthpiece 3 can be screwed with the aid of its screw portion 4. The mouthpiece 3 is provided with a collar portion 5. A plate 6 3 is provided with an eccentrically arranged hole or recess (aperture) 7. From this plate 6 an approximately L- shaped rod 8 extends, to the other end of which a projection 9 is arranged. The incandescent mantle 10 is provided at its upper end with an opening 1.1, and with an opening 12 at its lower end (FIGS. 1 and 2).

In the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2 the incandescent mantle 10 is inserted with its upper opening in the lower part of the mouthpiece 3, and is bound thereto. Thereupon the thread portion 4 of the mouthpiece 3 is led through the recess 7 of the plate 6, and the mouthpiece 3 is screwed, with its remaining thread portion 4, into the gas chamber 2. In the course of this the collar portion of the mouthpiece 3 comes to lie against the lower surface of the plate 6, and the upper surface of this plate 6 will come to lie against the lower rim of the gas chamber 2. In this way the plate 6 and, consequently, the entire frame-type holding arrangement is connected to the high-intensity lantern, forming one continuous whole therewith. Thereupon the lower opening 12 of the incandescent mantle is slipped over the projection 12, and the incandescent mantle 10 is bound thereto so that it, subsequently to the termination of this process, is fixed at its upper as well as its lower end. Subsequently thereto the high-intensity lantern (or: hurricane lamp) may be put into operation in the manner known per se.

The incandescent mantle is fixed at its upper and at its lower end so that swingings and vibrations of the incandescent mantle, which may be caused by shocks and impacts upon the high-intensity lantern or hurricane lamp, are considerably reduced. From this the advantage results that a breaking-off of the incandescent mantle, which hitherto nearly always happened near its upper edge and just below the mouthpiece, can be avoided. In the case of high-intensity lanterns or hurricane lamps, which are equipped in accordance with the present innovation, the incandescent mantles actually have a durability exceeding by far the service life of the incandescent mantles employed in conventional types of high-intensity, that is, they have an increased service life. One particular advantage of the embodiment, however, may be seen in the fact that the kind of frame-type holding arrangement can be easily removed by screwing-out the mouthpiece which may be of importance in cases where, for some reasons or other, merely such types of incandescent mantles are available which are only equipped with one single upper opening.

Many changes and modifications of the invention will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art. The invention will therefore not be limited to the one specific embodiment disclosed herein, the true scope of the invention being defined only in the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

1. In a portable high-intensity fluid fuel lamp having a mixing tube, a generally cylindrical gas chamber, a downwardly extending mouthpiece, and an incandescent mantle including a first opening for receiving the mouthpiece therein and a second opening in the side opposite the first opening, the improvement comprising:

a plate having an opening with an internal shoulder for receiving the gas chamber therein, with portions of the chamber abutting against the internal shoulder to dispose the chamber at substantially -degrees to the plate;

a substantially L-shaped support arm having the end of its long leg fixedly secured to the plate in such manner as to extend the long leg at substantially 90-degrees to the plate and locate the terminus of the short leg on the centerline of the gas chamber;

a generally cylindrically shaped body secured to the terminus of the short leg of the support arm and extending toward the chamber generally along the chamber centerline, the free end of the body being of reduced dimensions;

the mouthpiece having an externally threaded portion for being received through the plate opening and within similarly threaded portions of the chamber, other portions of the mouthpiece including a flange for engaging the plate when the mouthpiece is threadedly received within the chamber; and

the mantle having its first opening received onto the mouthpiece and its second opening received onto the cylindrically shaped body.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,169,411 1/1916 Lockwood. 2,714,302 8/1955 Bramming 67103 FOREIGN PATENTS 297,177 3/1954 Switzerland.

JAMES W. WESTHAVER, Primary Examiner. 

